I bet people in 2008 were confused between the unibody MacBook Pro and this. This was a pretty good MacBook for the price for sure though. Great video as always Luke! Always love to see old Mac content.

There was a 2.0 and 2.4 Ghz version. The 2.4 Ghz had a backlid keyboard. The 2.0 Ghz did have a connection inside so you could swap the 2.0 keyboard for a 2.4 keyboard and get the keys to light up

I actually own this MacBook from new! Its still my favourite Mac! It used to go everywhere with me and yes I had three batteries which I used to swap out as needed, especially on long coach journeys! The 6GB of RAM can be upgraded to 8GB using a an old firmware patch. Which mine still does! It is now running with a 500gb SSD and 8GB of matched RAM. Unfortunately I got rid of the OS as it ran terribly on Catalina. Though using other third party patches you could upgrade to OS Sur, but again it ran like a dogs dinner. That being said I now have it running Linux Mint with a fully specced out skin to make it run and feel like OS Monterey. Its still linux but with the flavour of MacOS. I use it everyday still and I still love the fact that its relatively easy to strip down and fix. I still love it! Pleased you finally did a video on this Luke! Thank you!

In the PowerBook era there was the 12” PowerBook, which was an interesting bridge between the iBook and PowerBook lines. That one was definitely not rare though.

This was my Mac for my college years and is still alive today. The disk drive is SATA protocol, it can be customized to be a secondary SATA drive slot. I changed the OG slot to an SSD and changed the secondary slot to a hard drive. SSD in a 2008-2010 era Mac is unbelievable, going from HDD to SSD first time in your life is unforgettable to say the least. over the years it had suffered a swell battery, broken wifi module but all fixed with parts sold on tabao, but it's pretty much unusable now due to the weak processing power.

They probably should have kept the MacBook name, the 13 inch models were always a lot less ‘pro’ than the larger ones with their low watt CPUs and integrated graphics, and the white MacBook was on its way out at the time anyway.

Thank you Luke! You have solved a bit of a mystery for me. Recently I got 3 of these in a bulk lot of Macs I bought from Melbourne Australia. I've got one working perfectly, but was scratching my head about the missing Pro on the name.

I remember watching unboxing videos of this MacBook back in middle school. I was obsessed lol eventually saved up and bought the 2010 MacBook Pro 13" .. which I had all through HS. Great video Luke!

Love your vids about the good „old“ time between the swap from the powerbook to the unibody design! Go ahead Luke. Greetings from Germany. 🤙🏻

Love this particular model. My school gave one to me for free when it was being decommissioned. Luke there were two models. The one with a 2.0ghz processor did not have a backlit keyboard. The one with the 2.4 ghz cpu did have a backlit keyboard, and takes 8gb of ram!! Awesome stuff. You are very correct that the screen is terrible. I replaced it with one from a 2012 MacBook Pro 13 inch and it looks beautiful. Thank you for this video and letting others know about this rare Mac!

I am still using this old guy, I have it running monterey using the open core patcher. Few things to note though, if you bought the 2.4 ghz version, you did get a backlit keyboard. Also, I have it running with 8gb of ram (maybe that doesn’t work on the 2 ghz version?). Last thing, you could hot swap the batteries even without plugging it in, you just have to wait until the hibernation light starts ‘breathing’.

Actually, it CAN support 8 GB of RAM. Cat and Andrew said so in one of his macOS Mojave videos.

Awesome Video, Luke! I honestly never heard that this Mac even existed. How much did you buy it for & are the screens interchangeable between the two notebooks?

I had this MacBook for about a week, then they announced the replacement MacBook Pro and I managed to swap to that. Still have it and it’s going strong 😊 Also, the PowerBook came in 12” as well.

I used to daily one of these up until a few months ago when it got replaced by a 16” M1 Pro. Really cool piece of old tech and still surprisingly capable despite the poor display. Mines now running Linux.

For quite a while I read your title Luke Miami :D Btw! One of the best Mac content on KZfaq! Great job on your production! Love those slider shots! I guess you have that edelkrone setup!

I own one of these (non-functional now) it served me well for 7 years until the logic board died. Had zero issues with it, which after replacing a couple windows laptops that couldn't even survive 2 years, was amazing. Pretty decent price to performance for the time! The main thing I missed from this edition was the lack of firewire port.

I just found one of these the other day that someone threw out. I saw the battery trapdoor and I was confused since I thought that design was only for the 2008 15in

I actually got one of these for free a few years back. I never realized it was only in production for a few months! It’s a great little machine; I still use it from time to time for basic tasks

Mr Miani would you recommend either getting a MacBook Air 2014 repaired or replace the laptop

A ton of these were bought by students since it was noticeably cheaper and looked like a Pro.

I remember a buddy of mine had one of these. It was a great machine and I always wondered why it said MacBook. Only to realize it was a Unibody MacBook. Good video sir.

From the beginning of the video I was waiting for you to mention the swappable battery. That was the only difference for me. But you kept the suspense. 2008/2009 era MacBooks /pro where indestructible I still have the 2008 13” MacBook, 2009 15” and 17” MacBook Pros. They run Big Sur!

Hey I dig these old(er) Mac hardware vids. You should do more. And not just laptops

Hot swappable battery was a feature for MacBook Pro 2009 and 2010 AFIK. Including de 15"

Wow, I had gotten one of these from a trade thinking it was a pro and I was devastated when I found out it wasn't. But now that I know they were rare, I kind of wish I didn't get rid of it. Thanks for the history lesson!

Love the Mac history lessons!

I actually had the 2008 Unibody MacBook, and it was kind of my first foray into the Apple ecosystem (I never owned an iPhone, actually). It worked for me until 2016, and currently my fully-upgraded 2012 MacBook Pro is my mac stop, which I mostly use for video editing, grad school, and creative work.

some friends gave me that exact MacBook about 6 months ago and with a new battery, new memory and an ssd it is now my daily driver! love it and thanks for the wonderful videos!

I actually bought one of those, new, when they came out. The new design and all aluminum unibody was just so sexy at the time. Spent the extra money to get the backlit keyboard and better CPU. Sold on eBay in 2014 or 2015. I knew it was rare but it was pretty limited in capability and the old screens sucked when compared to the retina, so sadly it had to go. I think the "Pro" suffix is highly overused though. The plain old MacBook was just fine, and that's how I see the current 13". Air, MacBook, then the Pro models. Everything doesn't have to be "Pro". Can I also add how much I prefer that style of MagSafe to the later ones, it was smaller and stayed on better and didn't get caught as easily because it went straight back and not out to the side.

Good video. Very interesting, thanks

I had a white polycarbonate MacBook of the same vintage in that time frame. I loved that Mac because the battery was swappable on it as well. I’d be curious if he took one of those macs and set it next to the one he’s using and see if the displays are the same.

I have one of these. Still works. And it DOES have a backlit keyboard! It was the 2.0 Ghz version that lacked backlit keyboard. Mine is the 2.4 Ghz version. That did have backlit keys.

I used this machine for a few years and did not realize how bad the display was until I was transferring files from it to a new 15 inch Pro and they were side by side.

I had (and still have this MacBook). I bought it new in 2009 but missed the timeframe to trade it in for the MBP. It was my first Mac after Windows Vista ruined me. It was a good machine for hauling around to class. When I bought it, Leopard was installed but a disc was included in the box for Snow Leopard. That unlocked the RAM to 8GB. Also, the keyboard did light up (at least on mine). The Macbook lineup was strange at the time. The white polycarbonate, the black polycarbonate and this aluminum. Finding replacement parts to revive this has not been very easy. Still, I got eight good years out of it.

I have this Macbook and bought it brand new in early 2008. I replaced the battery in 2013 and put in a SSD. It's still running strong to this day.

Luke, I bought one of these the day it was announced. As cool & futuristic as its form factor was I remember being profoundly disappointed by its lack of Firewire support. Apple had been committed to FW for a decade by then... I had numerous FW400/FW800 accessories including an unbelievably massive 1TB OWC dual-bay external RAID, several Lacie external drives, and even an EyeSight FW webcam. Plus my Canon video camera needed FW to connect with iMovie, and of course my 2G/3G iPods. Not to mention giving-up booting the MacBook into Firewire Target Disk Mode. I actually considered returning the laptop when I realized it was an "orphan". But I guess I assumed the difference between Apple's "consumer" and "pro" lines were the inclusion of FW connectors, and this laptop was decidedly "consumer". USB-2 on the MacBook seemed like a giant step backwards in every way compared to FW800 which by then was ubiquitous. Apple giveth and Apple taketh away...

I bought the 2.0 GHz base model the day it was announced at the Toronto Eaton Centre Apple Store. My second new Apple laptop following an iBook G4 in 2003. Compared to the iBook this Aluminum MacBook was a massive leap into the future. I used it constantly for nearly a decade, then gave it to my teenage niece who used it daily until two years ago. It still works great today with 4GB RAM, an aftermarket battery, and 240GB SSD running DosDude1's MacOs 10.13 High Sierra. Easiest HDD/SSD swap in the history of computers. FYI it's worth noting that the more-expensive 2.4GHz version did in fact have a backlit keyboard. Those upgraded 2.4GHz's are *really* rare nowadays.

Great video! It made me think, in 20 years, someone is probably going to make a video about a 2015 TouchBar MacBook Pro and how it had an experimental gimmick that never took off.

Would I be able to swap the display out on one of these for the 2009/10 macbook pro display?

I have this macbook and I still use it, i got it refurbished for $50 since the owner didn't know it was this rare. I use it for school and I used Dosdude1's catalina patcher. I use an SSD on it with 6 gb ram. the hatch is so useful when hotswapping batts. the only annoying part is the lack of an SD card slot, since i like to take pictures a lot. I use a SanDisk 240 GB SSD with this mac. In fact I typed out this comment on that macbook! I love this keyboard!

Actually, some Late 2008 MacBooks (13”, Aluminum) have backlit keyboards. I got one a year ago (in pristine condition) and I still use it as a daily driver for basic tasks. Plus I was actually able to upgrade to 8GB RAM, 2X4GB. I absolutely love it!

The PowerBook had a 12" model. It was my first Mac laptop. I eventually upgraded it to the Late 2008 15" Unibody MacBook Pro.

That was the first Mac I bought on launch day from the Regents Street suite in London! it had a screen that was misaligned by a mm or two, but Apple swapped it the following day. I still have the machine, but have had two MB Airs since.

I have one of the custom upgraded models with the backlit keyboard. I do sound design for theatre, and running High Sierra, I use this Macbook as a QLab playback device that stage management can use in rehearsals, while I make edits on a Mac Mini. When it comes time for tech rehearsals, I port the file over and reset levels for the performance space, and I'm good to go! It's obviously a limited machine, but it does still have its uses. 😊

I had one of these when they first came out and it *definitely* had a backlit keyboard. I remember being incredibly impressed by that feature (I was easily impressed). Perhaps the one you bought for the video is broken?

Awesome video Luke! I have one, it’s pretty beat up, but it works. I also have a 2009 one that replaced it. And a 2010 15in (the computer I use daily) And a 2011 15in And a 2012 13in

I had that macbook! It was my first ever mac. Back then there was only two Apple Stores in the UK, and I was in Glasgow. The genius bar staff were much more passionate and really hyped that you were choosing a mac back then, opposed to now where they are just retail staff. I loved that machine, it's been handed down through my family and is still running (battery is toast though)

I still run a Power Book 12" (for legacy applications). To this day, it's the most robust Mac I have ever owned!

The 2008 MacBook was my first Mac. I used it for 10 years before I upgraded. It lasted me so long because I upgraded it to a SSD, updated the firmware to allow it to use 8GB of RAM, and have bought a few replacement batteries. I still have it and use it for Adobe CS4 and some other older applications. It may not have the best screen, but it’s a fantastic machine.

I had one, purchased used in 2011 and stayed with me till 2015, back then was a heck of a machine. Used with 8gb RAM and a duo disc (using the space of the superdrive), it went through a lot and never left me in the church

What 😳 I have no idea its rare 😳 I still use my Late 2008 MacBook and Currently rocking Monterey.. Edit: Luke, I use mine with 8GB of RAM. You just need to upgrade its bootrom version to the latest one. My Late 2008 also has backlit keyboard, If u disassemble it and look right next to the trackpad flex slot, You’ll see a very small vacant slot (That is the Backlit keyboard slot!) I just bought an A1278 keyboard backlit (doesn’t matter which year) and it will work without any additional configuration needed..

You just made me feel a proud owner of this Macbook I own featured in this video, thanks !

I just recently bought an early 2009 MacBook 5,2. It is basically this MacBook in the older plastic case design, and DDR2 ram instead of DDR3. Also when you said a bit swappable battery is not something you’d see on any MacBook after isn’t true, as the early and mid 2009 models both have hot swappable batteries.

I wonder if it would be possible to do a display assembly swap with a 2009 13 inch MacBook Pro model. That would be very interesting to see, assuming all components in the display assmeble including the antennas are compatible.

This was my first mac book i bought it used in 09 at a best buy. I didn't realize that it was a one of a kind mac that's pretty awesome .

I went through college on a 2008 2.4 13" Alum. MacBook and a 2.2 Thinkpad T400. Thanks loans! I loved that machine. Its replacement, a 2012 13" MBP, is sitting here with linux on it now.

I got one of these a few weeks ago, but I haven't had much time to mess around with it yet.

I want to see this replaceable battery on a new iPhone

WHY, the Hotswappable battery were SO COOL, also that part under the hatch was THE SAME until 2015…what a shame they didn’t profit from a good expansion program, what a great initiative could have been…

I still have this MacBook. I never knew it was different from the pro line though. I remember buying this when watching one of my favorite KZfaqr: itsmemorphious. He's the reason why I got into Mac in the first place. I still watch his old videos from time to time. RIP Carlos.

I had one of those. I have a picture of it side by side with the Black MacBook it was replacing and then, I sold it for a 2011 MacBook Pro 13". Crazy.

Hey there Luke. I have one of these in pristine condition. New SSD and 8GB of RAM running Monterey and this thing is smooth. Nice to know that it is rare and might possibly be a collector’s item. Thanks for the awesome videos.

Used it some time ago for 2+ years. Changed HDD to SSD and installed Big Sur on it through some compatibility app.

I have it, working till 2020. The lcd have very good color calibration. Not so bad the screen in that Era.

Huh, funny, I saw one of these Macbooks in 2011 and remarked about the missing 'Pro' at the end. Also tried to Bootcamp it before the official support, which worked but no audio drivers.

Yes! I actually found one of these MacBooks at the thrift store for $70 a few weeks ago. and in good condition too, at first I thought it was a regular 13 inch MacBook Pro but as soon as I saw the removable bottom plate I knew it was that uncommon MacBook, but the battery still holds a charge and was still on OS X Leopard. But I ended up putting in a 256GB SSD and upgraded the Ram, so it’s running smoother with OS X El Capitan.

I remember this when it was new. It confused me at that time and in the end I still haven't got a macbook untill today.

Concerning the dodgy screen, I wonder if you could swap in a 2009 13" Macbook Pro screen? Might be a good subject for a video?

I had one for a brief time - sadly it had a logic board failure so wasn't possible to use it.

Hi Luke. I actually have one of those, and recently swapped the HDD for and SSD and upgraded the RAM

I have one of these models that i purchased awhile back for my collection after watching one of your videos. Lol It appears that yours does not have the original keyboard? The F4 key is not the dashboard key in your case.

The hard drive and (I think) RAM were also officially user accessible on this, same as the MacBook plastic edition. Can't remember if the RAM on this one required pulling the other half of the bottom case off.

This was my first Mac. It lasted me 6 years and was great for most of it's lifespan, especially after putting 8GB of ram in it (which was unoffically supported after Mountain Lion, I believe).

Never really thought about it as rare. I bought one new and still use it couples times a month for various things.

I used to have one of those. When I tried to sell it to upgrade after a few years, I couldn't, because every potential buyer believed it was a Macbook Pro with a broken fan controller, so I actually had to give it away

Our family’s first laptop was this MacBook, it wasn’t great compared to later macs but if you put it side by side with literally any laptop back then beside the late 2008 15’ Pro, it was far superior both in terms of looks and functionalities (heck it was the time of those single point trackpads and Apple made the iPhone screen their mac trackpad), and 5 hours of battery back then felt like 12 hours today, and on top of that the (then) new unibody chassis was indestructible compared to any consumer laptop back then (and even now tbh).

This MacBook happens to be my very first Mac I bought brand new for college. I still use it today! I have 8gb Ram in mine, and works like a champ!

I have this MacBook! I remember in 2008 when i was still 11 years old i was looking for a laptop, little me notice there's an apple store in the corner so i went in and i completely fell in love with the unibody MacBook - the MB466LL/A! All that years little me decide to disregard the Mac and around 2016 it has a broken Trackpad, broken keyboard, broken RAM bracket, broken speakers, a lot of scratch, etc. (when i was 13 years old, i started learning how to fix tech with this Mac!). In 2017 i decided to restore my MB466, i started with the same 2.0GHz C2D logic board (as it was still in great shape apart from the RAM and the Keyboard socket) ended up replacing the logic board from a donor MB466 MacBook with a 2.4GHz!!! (Some point the Keyboard socket of the 2.0GHz logic board gave up). Now it is one of my daily driver! alongside the 2015 13 inch MBP Retina, 2007 17 inch MBP, 2010 11 inch MBA.

I had one of these. The logic board was red (which has special meaning internally with Apple) and was labelled as a 'prototype' by the benchmark app of the day. Really interesting stuff. Luke I wonder if the logic board is red on that one too. Thanks for the video!

that explains why i could find the page on ifixt for my device HAHAHA. Worked anyway since its very similiar to the 2009 model. also. the 2010 screen fits perfectly on this machine.

It's interesting I find this video now! I just bought on of these on Marketplace, and boy it was interesting. It looks as though at some point the screen was replaced with a MacBook Pro's screen, because of the labeling on the bezel. I was surprised to find that you could replace these MacBook screens' with the unibody MacBook Pro's screen, but mine is living proof that you can! I put an SSD in it and it's a very usable device now, if not for just light web-browsing, emails, etc., especially with the MUCH better MacBook Pro screen in it! I'd say I got a steal; $10 because it didn't power on! All it needed was a new charger and SSD and boom, I've got what I now know is a pretty neat piece of apple history! Thanks Luke for the great video!!

Do you recommend using a Transcend's 1TB JetDrive Lite 330!?

when i was a little guy and was in grade K-5 my small town public school had these aluminum AND only these aluminum MacBook's. they are the reason i rock a Unibody MacBook Pro... I loved them so much.

How long did the 2019 15 inch MacBook last for? Before it was replaced by the 16 inch

4:05 Well, the PowerBook is available in 12-inch as well

I have one of these late 2008 MacBook aluminums and I updated it to 8 gigs of DDR3 ram

I used to have one of those, sold to a friend who’s still using it these days

I bought this in 2009. With 2GB ram on OSX Snow Leapord, it was useful when I can change the battery while travelling.

This was my first and only MacBook! I say only because I still have and use it as my own personal computer. Upgraded the hard drive to SSD many years ago and replaced the battery once. Bought one after my HP laptop I saved up for and bought for college died after less than a year of use. 12 years later and the Mac is still kicking…. I’d say I made the right choice! Think it’s time for an upgrade though… Great video Luke! I remembered after getting it how quickly the pro came out after but never heard the story why.

I got one of the rare ones, I bought if in the beginning of 2009 but it's a late 2008, it's the best version with 2.4GHz CPU and backlight keyboard.

I had a unibody 2008 MacBook a few months ago, and I could upgrade the ram to 8gb, activity monitor has also shown 8gb of ram.. how could be the maximum capacity 6 instead of 8gb? 🤔

This was the precursor to the 13" unibody MacBook Pro. At the time it came out, it was a replacement to the old 13" white plastic MacBook. They simply took this machine, renamed a MacBook Pro, and then up the specs slightly.

Oh this machine is rarer than i thought? Interesting backstory behind such a unique device

I got this MacBook as my first laptop and it was really durable, everything still functioning normally except the battery. For RAM upgrading, I can use 8 GB of ram without any problem. Moreover, mine does equipped with backlit keyboard. (Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz A1278)

You can upgrade this to 8 GB of RAM with the right firmware update. Also, the 2.4 Ghz version of this MacBook had a backlit keyboard; only the 2.0 GHz version didn't.

I almost bought that machine way back when; instead I went with the black polycarbonate Macbook. That computer still works today, if I want to use it with a Lion OSX and just do keyboarding and printing or listen to music off of a disc. Yeah I know a cult classic.

My cousin had one of these… I missed the chance to buy one on clearance when I was in college in 2009, for the same price as a white polycarbonate pre-unibody. Not to say I didn’t love that plastic MacBook. It was my first Mac and felt oh so on trend. Great little rare Mac.

I have exactly that model on my closet just because I have not the heart to get rid of it. Just like many other models, once the power button breaks, the whole keyboard is rendered useless. Fortunately MacBook motherboards have power pads for a technician to bypass the power button and force the computer to start, because it has been a constant design feature for many years

Luke u r not right. This model perfectly can upgrade up to 8gb 1066 memory ddr3 sodimm. Also only optional this models hasn’t keyboard backlight. U also can add kb bklight manualy from any a1278